It looks like Wolverine star Hugh Jackman would be glad of the superpowers of his screen alter ego to help him keep up with his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Ava.

The little girl was positively zipping along on her scooter near their home in New York's West Village.

Doting dad Hugh credits Ava and her brother Oscar, who are both adopted, for his lack of ego. "(They) keep me grounded. When I won the Sexiest Man Alive award, Oscar said: 'What, you?'".

His experience of adopting has led the actor to speak up recently in support of Madonna over her attempt to give a home to a Malawian girl. “There are 130 million orphans in the world. Who is looking after them?” he asks. "If you are a citizen of the world, on some level they are all our responsibility.

"And if you have got parents who want to adopt and there are children who need a home, it seems like a no-brainer,” he adds